Storytelling
by Scarlet's Walk
Summary: A story about Miaka and Taka's daughter Tsubaki, who is, coincidentally, pulled into the Universe of the Four Gods! Where she runs into many characters, new and old, including Cassian, who is none other than TASUKI'S SON! Don don don. Get reading.CH.5 UP!
1. About A Girl

Author's note: Well, well. My first FY fanfic in a long time. And now it's going to be the only story that I have up... oh well. Do you want to know the truth about this story? I just typed it all in like the last twenty minutes . I actually got the idea of writing a story about Miaka and Tamahome's daughter going into the book when I was washing the dishes earlier. And then I just sat down and randomly wrote it. But you probably don't really care about that right? LOL, is anyone even reading this? Oh well, please excuse any grammar or spelling or whatever because I didn't read through it a second time after typing it. Too lazy. Anyway, enjoy. I'm not sure if I'll continue writing this or not... I really have no idea what's going to happen in the future of this story. I'll tell you one thing though. Cassian is Tasuki's son. Wahhh, I bet he's really kawaii! LOL, I love Tasuki. But who is Cassian's mother?? (even I don't know yet...) You'll have to read the next chapter to find out!! (If there IS a next chapter). Anyway, on with the story. I tend to ramble too much for my own good... oh yeah; I must have a disclaimer first.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi. But I do own Tsubaki (I like that name...) and I do own Cassian, even though he's Tasuki's son. Where did I get the name Cassian anyway? It's a very strange name...  
  
Storytelling  
  
I've heard almost ever story out there. It all started when I was little and my parents would stay up to the early hours in the morning to tell me one of their fascinating tales. But my favorites were always the stories about the courageous Suzaku no Miko and her brave Seishi. The strange thing was, though, that none of my other friends had ever heard any of these stories. Unlike other famous tales, my parents seemed to be the only ones who know about the Suzaku no Miko. Whenever I asked them about it, they would wink at me, and whisper, "It's a secret, Tsubaki."  
As I grew older, the stories in my life slowly began to disappear and were replaced by the many worries and hazards of a modern day teen. By the time I started high school, the subject of the Suzaku no Miko hadn't been brought up in months. But of course, I could never forget about it.  
  
It's raining today. Or should I say pouring. I was just getting home from school and already the sky was as dark was night, covered in the sheets of falling rain. "Hello?" I called as I stepped into the dark house. "I'm home!" I stepped inside, shaking off my wet coat and boots. The house was completely dark. I moved into the dining room and flicked on a light. There was a scribbled note on the table. I picked it up and read it out loud. "Tsubaki- Dad is at work and I won't be home until late. Dinner is in the fridge. Love you, Mom." I set the note back on the table and sighed. "Great, another cold dinner."  
My parents were usually home late, so I was stuck in this situation more than once. Suddenly I heard a tremendous crack of lightning from outside and the house lit up in a brilliant, blinding flash of light. And then everything went dark. I fumbled over to the light switch and flicked it back and forth in vain. I sighed. "Great, just great. Now the power's out."  
The last candles I had seen were the ones sitting on the dresser in my parent's room. But when I got there, they were gone. "Argh! Mom! Where did you put them??" I exclaimed. I quickly lit a match and started rummaging through the bottom of their closet, thinking, hoping, that the candles were there somewhere. The match reached its limit and I blew it out with a hiss as the flame grazed the tip of my finger. I sat down heavily on the edge of my parent's bed with a sigh. I was all out of ideas. I stared into the closet gloomily, only being able to make out the dark shapes of the objects within.  
Suddenly I noticed something. At the top of the closet was a thin dark space that I realized must be a shelf. I stood up, my eyes fixed on the shelf. That's strange, I thought. I didn't know there was a shelf there.  
I stood on my toes and reached up, brushing the tips of my fingers over the shelf. They hit something. I brought my hand back to find it covered in dust. Now, my interest sparked, and frankly, having nothing better to do, I reached up and stretched as high as I could, and managed to grab hold of the object on the shelf. I tentatively pulled it down and almost dropped it as it slipped through my fingers with dust. I realized that the dust-covered object was a long box. I set it down on the floor, wiping the dust from my fingers off on my pants, and looked at the box for a second in the dark. Then, I reached into my pockets and pulled out another match. I lit it with a hiss and immediately the small glow of light lit the room around me.  
With one had holding the burning match, I used to other to pull the lid off of the box, which was achieved with some difficulty.  
Inside the box, was a book.  
The cover was layered in dust and I used my sleeve to wipe it clean. It revealed a thin, red, leather-bound book with curled black writing. I dropped the match.  
Quickly cursing, I stomped out the small flame. Then, my hands jerking, I lit another. Bending slowly over the book and swallowing hard, I read the title again, just to make sure it was real.  
The Universe of the Four Gods.  
There was no mistaking it. This was the book from the stories. The book from the legends that had carried the Suzaku no Miko into its mysterious world. But . . . how could it be? None of that was real . . . all of it was simply a story to get me to fall asleep as a kid.  
Yet here I was, kneeling in front of that very book.  
Slowly, cautiously, I let my fingers rest on the edge of the cover. Then, taking a long breath, I pulled it open.  
The story was coming to life. The bright red light surrounding me and I could feel it pulled me in, as if the hands of many people were grabbing me. The last thing I could think before I fell into its downward spiral, was, 'How can this be happening?'  
  
I woke up in complete darkness. I was lying on my stomach, an assortment of sticks and twigs poking me in the chest. I sat up with a jerk. My head was pounding and my hands fell to my sides for balance. I was outside. The moon was slim in the sky above me and the night was absolute darkness.  
I swallowed. Hard. And closed my eyes. I heard a crackle from beside me. My eyes flew open again, my heart pounding wildly.  
Okay, okay, I thought. Calm down. Calm down. This can only be explained in one way . . . The story was true. About the Suzaku no Miko, about her Seishi, about everything. It was all real.  
Not liking this solution, I pinched my arm. When I remained seated on the dark forest floor, I decided that I would, after all, have to accept that this was all real. But... why had The Universe of the Four Gods been hidden in my parent's closet?  
I didn't have much time to wonder over this, as I heard more noises coming from the dark woods. My heart pounding in my ears, I wondered what I should do now. Suddenly I heard footsteps. A light was coming from the woods... it was coming... straight towards me. I panicked. What should I do? Try to run and hide? But what if it was someone friendly?  
The crunching footsteps stopped and I realized that they must have caught sight of me. I quickly scrambled to my feet and took a hesitant step backwards.  
"Stop!" A voice barked loudly at me. I froze. "Don't try anything!" The footsteps quickened and before I knew it, a dark figure was emerging from the woods. He stopped when he was about a foot away from me. The torchlight sent long shadows across his face. His hair was red and fiery, just like the flames. I was surprised to see that he looked like he was around the same age as me. "Just who are you??" He asked sharply, glaring at me. "What are you doing, wandering around in the middle of the night without a light or anything??"  
"I-I'm sorry," I managed to stutter. "But... I'm lost, I think..."  
"You think?" He jeered. He stepped in a little closer and suddenly his face changed. "Oi... where are you from? What's with those clothes?"  
I blinked down in surprise at my clothes. "I-I'm not from around here..."  
"Quit stuttering. It's making me sick."  
I couldn't help but glare at him.  
"Oh well," he said, reaching out and grabbing my elbow. "Yer coming with me."  
"W-Where??" I exclaimed, pulling back.  
"Don't ask questions!" He snapped, dragging me along with ease. "You were caught trespassing on Mt. Reikaku so now I'm gonna take you in to the Boss."  
"Mt. Reikaku??" I repeated the familiar name. "Is... is there a bandit there named Tasuki? Or Genrou?"  
He eyed me suspiciously. "So what if there is. What's it to you?"  
"I... I... know him," I said quickly, which was the only thing I could come up with.  
  
"You can stop pulling me now," I muttered darkly. "It's not like I'm going to runaway."  
He glared suspiciously. "So you say. Anyway, we're here."  
We had stopped in front of a long, Chinese-styled building. The bandit holding me rapped sharply on the door. "Oi!" He called. "It's me, Cassian!"  
The door was quickly pulled open from the inside by another bandit. "Took you long enough, Kid," he started, but when he saw me he stopped. "Who's this girly?"  
"She says she knows the Boss," Cassian said, still eying me.  
"We'll see about that," the bandit said, but let us both in nonetheless. "You want me to bring 'er?" He asked once we were inside.  
"I can handle it," Cassian said with a slight glare. He turned to me. "C'mon."  
  
Cassian threw open the large wooden door and dragged me in behind him. Two men were in the room and they looked up, surprised, at the sudden outburst.  
"Cassian," said the taller of the two. He had the same red hair as Cassian. "What's this? Who's this girl?"  
"You don't know?" Cassian asked, and turned to me, glaring. "She says she knows you."  
Suddenly all the eyes in the room were focused on me. "A-Ano..." I stammered. "You're Tasuki? One of the Suzaku Seishi?" It felt weird saying it out loud. Like asking someone if they were Snow White.  
"Yeah," he said shortly. "How do you know me?"  
"Well... I..." I clutched my hand together tightly till my knuckles turned white. How could I explain this? "I... I think I'm from the same world... that the Suzaku no Miko was."  
"You think?" Tasuki asked, standing up and walking over to me. "From the looks of it, you are. How did you get here? How did you get the book?"  
"I...I accidentally found the book in my parents room... and when I opened it, I was pulled in."  
"Your parents..." Tasuki's eyes widened for a second. "What are your parents names??"  
"T-Taka and Miaka..." I said slowly, wondering what this had to do with anything.  
Tasuki blinked at me wide eyed. "Well... well..." He started to laugh. "This is fucking amazing! So, you're Miaka and Tamahome's kid, eh?"  
"T-Tamahome?? But he's..." I stopped in mid sentence as it finally dawned on me. "This is... impossible," I breathed.  
Tasuki grinned even wider. "Don't tell me you didn't know? You're the daughter of the Priestess of Suzaku!!"  
"I... I... WHAT??" I exclaimed.  
"Whoa," Cassian said from beside me. "What happened to being all shy and shaky?"  
"There's no time for that now!" I exclaimed. "I'm... the daughter of the Suzaku no Miko! This is... amazing!"  
"Gods, I can't believe they never told you," Tasuki said. "I told Cassian all about my adventures as a Seishi. Ah, the good old days of frying Tama to a crisp..."  
I turned to Cassian. "You're...?"  
"His son," he finished for me. 


	2. We're In This Together Now

Author's note: Well, it's been a little while, but here's chapter two. But first off, I really, really want to thank all of the people that reviewed. Thank you!!! Reviews really rock. You have no idea how great they can make a writer feel . Anyway, on with the story. Oh yeah. One other thing. I DO know that Miaka and Tamahome's daughter is named Hikari, but . . . I like the name Tsubaki better . Whenever someone says Hikari, I think of hickory nuts (not offense to anyone named Hikari! Sorry!). I did consider naming one of my cats Hikari, though. They're black and white and I wanted to name the white one Hikari and the black one Yami . Unfortunately, that didn't really pan out... but ANYWAY, as you can probably tell I have a serious problem with ramblings. So, once again, on with the story! But first . . .  
  
Disclaimer: I claim nothing, except for the stuff I claimed in the last chapter .  
  
Tasuki doesn't want to give up Tama and Miaka's kid, apparently. Every time he sees me he keeps laughing and poking at me and telling me how much I remind him of my parents. I hardly notice it, since I think I'm still a little in shock. I mean, I'm inside a story for christsake!  
After finding out that I'm the daughter of the Suzaku no Miko, Cassian seems to be avoiding me. I'm not quite sure why. I'm not really sure what's going to happen either. So I asked Tasuki, the only person who seemed to be in charge.  
"What's going to happen??" He exclaimed. "Hmm...I know! The first thing we have to do is take you to the palace!"  
"What?? The palace?? Why??" I exclaimed back.  
"Because!" He said, as if it were obvious. "You're Miaka's daughter! The emperor's gonna want to meet you, and probably everyone else too!"  
"But... but my parents probably have no idea where I am," I stuttered.  
Tasuki waved a hand carelessly. "Ah, they'll figure it out."  
Somehow, I wasn't quite sure about that. But before I knew it, things were moving so fast that I was swept off my feet. I hadn't really thought Tasuki was all that serious about taking me to the palace, but apparently he was. The next thing I knew, he was yelling to some bandits to ready the horses.  
I have never ridden a horse before. This was a problem. As I was trying as best I could to scramble up onto the back of a horse that seemed as high as a building, I heard wicked laughter from behind me. Slowly turning around and glaring, I spied Cassian, laughing at my fumbling attempts to mount. Suddenly Tasuki was behind him and smacked him across the head. "Go on now!" He said. "Help her with her horse!"  
"No way!" Cassian argued. "If she can't get onto her own horse then she should just walk!!"  
Tasuki tapped him hard on the head with the tip of his tessen. "Now, now, my son. Yer gonna do what I tell you to do! Come on, hurry it up! We don't have all day! Have you even packed yet?"  
"M-Me??" Cassian exclaimed, looking around frantically to see if there was anyone else whom Tasuki might have been remarking too.  
"Of course you!" Tasuki said. "You didn't think you were staying behind, did you? You've never even been to the capital before! Aren't you at least curious about it??"  
"Well, yeah..." Cassian muttered. "But I would have preferred to go there under different circumstances... much different circumstances."  
  
Horseback riding was fun... for about the first half an hour. After that I started feeling sick with each bump after bump after bump. Cassian seemed to be enjoying my suffering though, and I would occasionally hear a low snicker from behind me. I wondered what he had against me, anyway. What had I ever done to him?  
By the end of the day, the insides of my legs felt like someone had taken a knife and scrapped off all my skin. It hurt to bend them. I grimaced and held back the pain, not wanting Cassian to see how much pain I was in. Unfortunately, it was quite obvious once I dismounted. Well, I wouldn't call it dismounting. I would call it falling.  
"Gods, I forgot," Tasuki said as he started to set up a fire. "They don't have horses in your world, do they?"  
"Yes, they do," I said stiffly, my legs still aching. "We just don't ride them around all day."  
"Right..." Cassian said from behind me, pulling out the mats that had been rolled and strapped to his horse.  
"Anyway," I said, eager to change the subject. "How long do you think it will take till we reach the capital?"  
"About five days," Tasuki said.  
"F-Five days..." I said weakly. I couldn't imagine five more days of this pain. Wasn't there any other way besides horses to get around? Suddenly a thick sheet was thrown over my head and I twisted to untangle myself. "What the hell??" I said, managing to get the sheet off my head. Cassian grinned wickedly at me as he threw down his own mat beside the fire.  
"Oi." Tasuki said strictly. "Stop fighting you two. I'll be right back and I don't want you two to tear each other to pieces by the time I get back."  
"Where are you going?" I asked as he rose.  
"There's a river a couple miles up this way. Sometimes it gets flooded at this time of year. If it is, then tomorrow we'll have to take the long way down the river bank to the next bridge." Tasuki explained as he pulled himself back onto his horse. "I'm just gonna go ahead and check. It'll save us a lot of time tomorrow. Don't worry; I'll be back in about an hour. Hya!" He yelled as he kicked his horse in the side and disappeared into the darkness, the thumping of the horse's hooves against the dirt slowly fading away.  
I glanced at Cassian only to find him glancing back at me from the corner of his eyes. When our gazes caught, he immediately ripped away. Great, I thought. Just great. Tasuki told me not to worry, but how can I not worry with this guy around?  
After an uncomfortable few seconds of silence, Cassian plopped down on his mat across the fire from me. I was already sitting in my own mat. "You keep watch first," he said, to my surprise.  
"We're... keeping watch?" I asked.  
"Of course!" He shot back. "We aren't on Mt. Reikaku anymore so we have no idea what's lurking around in these woods."  
I'll sleep great tonight, I thought. "Why do I have to keep watch first?"  
"Because it's easier since you haven't actually gone to sleep yet. It's harder when you're woken up in the middle of the night and have to stay awake." Cassian rolled over in his blankets, his back facing me. "Just wake me up when Tasuki gets back."  
I was silent for a few minutes, which seemed to pass by agonizingly slowly. There was nothing to do but stare into the darkness or into the fire. And since the fire made my eyes hurt, I chose the darkness. I glanced over at Cassian. He wasn't moving. "Hey... Cassian." I said. "Are you awake?"  
"Whatta you want?" He grumbled, but he sounded completely awake. I was guessing he was just lying there staring off into the darkness like me.  
"How could you don't call Tasuki 'Dad' or 'Father' or anything?" I asked. "You just call him Tasuki like everyone else."  
"I don't know!" Cassian said, his back still facing me. "That's just how I grew up, I guess."  
"What about your mother?" I asked. This question had been prodding me for a while, but I hadn't had enough courage to ask Tasuki himself.  
Cassian didn't say anything. I realized that I had probably made a stupid mistake and his mom was probably dead or something and now he was going to hate me even more than before, if that was possible, and it was all because I had to open my big mouth and-  
"She..."  
My thoughts jerked to a stop as I heard Cassian speak.  
"My mother, she..." Cassian whispered so softly that his voice was drown out by the crackling flames. He didn't continue.  
That's the last thing I remember.  
  
I now had a headache that made the burns on my legs feel like a splinter. When I first opened my eyes I had the sensation of just waking up in the morning and I thought that maybe, this was all a crazy nightmare and I had heard one to many stories.  
"You okay, stupid girl?"  
Okay, that was definitely Cassian, and unless there was a clone of Cassian in my house, this wasn't a dream.  
I sat up with extreme difficulty and my eyes seemed off focus. I blinked them hard and hit the side of my head as if I could jolt them back into place. "W-What happened?" I asked, still squinting my eyes.  
"What happened was you turned out to be a lousy watch guard," Cassian said. "They snuck right up behind us before you noticed anything."  
"Who snuck up behind us??" I asked frantically.  
"See!" He exclaimed. "I knew! You didn't even notice them until they hit you on the head!"  
Well, that explains the headache. "Okay," I said calmly. "Please, just explain to me straightly what happened."  
"We've been captured, that's what happened," Cassian said. "Look around!"  
For the first real time I took notice of our surroundings. We were both in a tiny rectangular space with a high ceiling. Each of us had one of our wrist chained to the wall, and walls of boxes were stacked up on either side of us. "Where... exactly are we?" I asked.  
Cassian sighed. "The worst place possible. A wagon."  
"A wagon?" I repeated, wondering if I had heard him right. Suddenly I felt the floor shake and a low growling. "W-What's going on??"  
"Looks like they've decided to leave," Cassian said, and sure enough, we started to move.  
"So... we're chained to the inside of a wagon," I said. Things still weren't that clear. "And... WHY would someone chain us to the inside of a wagon??"  
"Gods, you really are clueless," he remarked. "They're probably gypsies, slave dealers, or something like that. It appears that they intend to sell us."  
"S-Sell us??" I stuttered in disbelief.  
"Stop repeating everything I say," Cassian glared. "You're not deaf, are you?"  
I quickly shut my mouth, but it wasn't long before I needed to ask another question. "Um, so, Tasuki's coming to save us, right?"  
Cassian glared at me. "If he can find us. We're moving at a rapid pace, and we've got about an hours lead. This is all your fault."  
"How is this my fault??" I exclaimed. "I don't have eyes on the back of my head!!"  
"YEAH, WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION INSTEAD OF ASKING ME STUPID QUESTIONS ABOUT MY MOTHER!!!"  
I swallowed. That was... loud.  
We didn't say anything for a long while after that. I swear I could feel the hateful energy looming around him. I sighed. It was completely dark in the wagon. It must have still been sometime around midnight. I wondered if I would make it through this night alive... or at all. 


	3. Right On Time

Author's note: I'm off to Michigan tomorrow! So. . .yeah. I'm not gonna be back for two weeks, and I thought, 'The good people deserve an update before I leave.' So, without further ado or any mindless rambling, I present chapter three (which may be a little skinny, but expect more when I get back from Michigan... and after I finished reading Leviathan, damn, that's a strange manga. But Kouhei is so cool! Okay, I'm gonna stop now since I said that I was going to refrain my any mindless tangents).  
  
Claimer: I claim Tsubaki. And Cassian. But nothing else.  
  
I don't know when I fell asleep, but the next thing I knew I was being shoved awake. I guess I was expecting to see Cassian's face, so I was quite surprised to find myself staring into the wide black eyes of a strange young man. "Come on, girly," he said, quickly grabbing my wrist and before I knew it, had pulled me out of the wagon. It looked around noon and the sun was shining at it's brightest. I was blinded for a second and blinked my eyes furiously to get used to the sudden change from inside the dark wagon.  
"This is the cream of the crop," I heard the man holding my wrist say. "Fresh, young, just came in yesterday."  
I jumped with a start when I realized that he was talking about ME. My eyes had now grown accustomed to the afternoon sun and for the first time I noticed a scraped, dirty looking man and woman standing before me.  
"Hmm..." The woman stepped forward, pushing my head to the side with her hand and then picking up my hand and began examining my palm. "She's youthful, that's for sure, but it doesn't look like she's worked a day in her life."  
"Hey!" I said, jerking my hand away from her.  
"Calm down," the man who was still holding my wrist said. "There's no escape now. The more you struggle, the worse it'll be for you." He tightened his grip on my wrist fiercely and I bit back the crushing pain.  
Suddenly, for the first time, I realized that Cassian was nowhere to be seen. I twisted over my shoulder to see the empty inside of the wagon we had been in. Where had he gone?"  
"So, how much you want for her?"  
"H-Hey!" I yelled, startling them all. "Where's Cassian??"  
"Cassian?" The man holding me repeated. "Oh, yeah mean the boy you were with? He somehow managed to escape last night. Haven't seen him since."  
I felt my skin prickle. Cassian... escaped? Without me??  
I swallowed back the ill feeling in my stomach and clenched my fist. Just as quickly as it came, my uneasiness was turning into anger. There was no way that I was going to be sold!  
So I bit him.  
Yelping, he released his iron grip-hold on my wrist. I spat out the awful copper taste of his blood from my mouth as I was swung around, heading for the woods.  
So, Cassian escaped, eh? Well, who needs him anyway? I can escape just as well.  
I could hear the pounding of feet behind me but I didn't dare look back. My heart was in my ears; my stomach was in my mouth. My feet barely touching the ground, yet each time they did, I could feel the heavy thump mixing in with my loud gasps.  
Come on, I thought. Come on.  
I had never run like this in my life.  
He grabbed my hair and yanked, the motion sent me off balance and I wavered to keep from falling. He swung at me, but I managed to block my face with my arm. The impact felt like concrete. Everything was a fast blur. I kicked him in the shins as hard as I could. When he didn't let go, I kicked him in the crotch, even harder. Why hadn't I done that the first time??  
I felt his grip loosen which was all I needed and I was off again, just reaching the edge of the woods. I crashed into the woods, still hearing the man's angry cursing from behind me.  
  
I think they had given up on me. At least, I hoped they had. I had no idea how long it had been since I had made my daring escape. The minutes felt like hours, as I was crouched down in a low hole underneath a fallen log. It must have been some kind of fox den, but now it was empty. Well, except for me.  
I couldn't get my breath to settle down. I was shaking, a little from fear, a little from excitement. In fact, this had probably been the most exciting, more terrifying thing that had ever happened to me before.  
And then I heard it. A single footstep that froze my heart. A shadow fell across the entrance of the fox den.  
"I've finally found you."  
I stiffened.  
"You must be Tsubaki-san, no da."  
"...Huh?"  
A bright smiling face was looking down at me. "It's okay, no da. You can come out now."  
Blinking, still a little in shock, I forced myself to move my legs and crawl out of the hole. I wiped dirt from my face and found myself facing a smiling, bright-faced monk, and a familiar scowl that could only belong to one person. Cassian.  
  
Author's note (again): Yes, yes, very short. But I promise more when I get back!! Besides, going on vacation will give me time to actually try to plan out the plot BEFORE I start typing... Until then, be happy with the last month left of summer!! 


	4. I'm A Monster

Author's note: WOW, it's been a long time. First of all, sorry everyone for making you wait so long. But it has been really chaotic around here lately. Mainly with school starting and the loads and loads of homework dropped on my shoulders each night (shudders at the though). But in the future I'm going to try to update a lot more. But, the updates will probably be pretty small. It works better for me to not type as much and update more, than to type a whole lot and update like every month. Ommm. . . Did that make sense? Lol, anyway, here's chapter four. Oh yeah, one more IMPORTANT thing. I am going to be switching the first person narration between Tsubaki andâ€ don don don, none other than the infamous Cassian's mother. I think you'll be able to figure out who's saying what. Oh yeah, another warning, the story IS going to get a bit darker. With that said, on to the actual story.

Disclaimer: I STILL make no claim over FY, and all related themes/concepts/settings/blah

I had really thought he had left me. Of course, I hadn't had much time to ponder over it, butâ€ it just seemed in his nature.

"Chee," Cassian frowned at me as he turned away. "I'm not an idiot! It's not like I'd just leave the daughter of the Suzaku no Miko to rot!"

"Well. . . couldn't you have told me that instead of just running off like that??" I asked.

"Hey! If I had told you I was escaping, you would have wanted to come with!" He yelled back. "Besides, you'd only get in my way!"

"I would not!" I argued, even though I knew he was probably right. I wasn't as stealthy as I would have liked to be.

"Now, children" We both looked up as Chichiri placed a hand on each of our shoulders. "It is not the time to bicker, no da." He turned to me and made a slight bow. "Tsubaki-san. . .I'm sure you've been told of me as I've been told of you. Nonetheless, no da, I am Chichiri, of the Suzaku Seishi."

"P-Pleased to meet you," I said quickly, trying my best to be polite. Cassian rolled his eyes.

Chichiri smiled genuinely. "The pleasure is mine, no da. But, for the time being, I think we should take our talk elsewhere."

It wasn't until later that I found out the entire story. After Cassian had escaped, he had hid in the woods to try and regroup and figure out a plan to rescue me (or so he said. I was still a little skeptical about the whole idea). That was when, out of some blind luck, he had run into Chichiri. I was also skeptical about this. Cassian waved it aside without a second glance, but the fact that they had run into each other in a country this big kept nudging at the back of my head. Anyway, that was about where I can into the story and met up with them. Cassian had explained all of this to me as we made our way a long a narrow path, following Chichiri closely by the heels. We were headed to a small village that Chichiri assured us was just beyond these woods. Since night was already falling, Chichiri said he would pay for a room for us in the village until morning.

The woods suddenly and abruptly cleared and I found myself standing atop a large grassy knoll, the lights of the village in the distance. "Here," I heard Chichiri say, and turned around to see him handing Cassian some money. "This should be enough for the night."

"W-Wait, you mean you're not coming with us?" I asked.

Chichiri shook his head solemnly. "I am going to try and find Tasuki, no da. He is surely worried about you. The sooner I find him, the better, no da. Don't worry; I'm sure I'll find him by morning. We'll meet you two back here then."

The village was much smaller than I had expected. I followed Cassian closely as we made our way through the dark streets, watching with wide eyes everything around me. I couldn't help it. This was a completely different world, how could I NOT be fascinated with everything in it?

"You seem like you know where you're going," I asked Cassian after a second. It was true. He was marching abruptly through the streets without taking a second glance at anything.

"I've been here before," he said, sounding quite sour.

"Really? When?"

"When I was little, okay? Now shut up, I'm trying to think."

I glared bitterly at his back, but bit my lip.

We eventually did find an inn. Cassian was about to have a hissy fit when he discovered that we only had enough money for one room, but I smacked him on the head and told him I would sleep on the floor. That seemed to settle it, but he still eyed me warily, rubbing the back of his head where I had hit him.

When we got to our room, I was hoping he might be a gentleman and offer me the bed, even though I had said I would sleep on the floor. What had I been thinking?

"This is your punishment," Cassian said, falling down on the bed. "It's your fault we're in this huge mess so you can sleep on the floor." He threw a blanket at me, which landed over my face and after a few seconds of struggling, I managed to pin it to the floor. I fell down on the blanket and sighed. I was really starting to wish I was back home. I wondered if mom and dad were worried. . . .

Thinking of my parents reminded me once again, of Cassian's mother. I watched him warily out of the corner of my eye, itching to ask him about his mother again. I knew I shouldn't. I knew I really shouldn't. But. . . I wanted to know so badly! It was eating me away inside. And now that I thought of it, I knew that I wouldn't be able to get any sleep without knowing what had happened to Cassian's mother. Maybe I could just ask what her name was. . .? He couldn't get extremely upset over THAT, could he?

"Hey, Cassian. . ." I said, finally building up enough courage to speak. He didn't answer and for a second I thought he was asleep. I sat up and could see him lying on the bed, arms folded behind his head, staring intently at the ceiling. Suddenly he blinked roughly, shaking his head. He glared at me, noticing me for the first time.

"What're you staring at?" He asked. "Go to sleep."

"I can't sleep," I said truthfully.

"Well don't bother me about it!"

"Hey, Cassian. . ."

"WHAT?"

". . . What was your mother's name?"

Wham. The pillow hit me full throttle. I rubbed my smashed nose and clutched tightly onto the pillow. "You're not getting it back, you know."

Cassian had made it quite clear that the subject of his mother was taboo, so what he said next surprised me.

"You really wanna know about my mother?"

". . .Y-Yes," I said uncertainly, wondering if this was some kind of trap.

He was silent for so long that I thought he wasn't going to answer. Suddenly, he swung off of the bed, marching abruptly to the door. Opening the door, he turned to me. "My mother," he said, his eyes locking on mine with fierce intensity. "My mother tried to kill me." He swung out of the room, slamming the door so loud that the walls rattled.

I sat frozen in silence, trying to take in the meaning of his words. The room was deathly silent.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

20 years ago.

Have you ever had the feeling of something so heavy pulling you down, but no matter how you try, you cannot lift it from you? The feeling of suffocating when you're standing above the water? I felt like that all the time. Except for when he hit me. When he hit me, it was like everything in my body surged forward and my whole body started coursing with some unseen energy. A heat, an anger, a feeling of desperate helplessness. A feeling of frustration and anger so hard that it clouded my head, made me stagger with its overwhelming presence, and caused my stomach to fall up through my mouth.

I could feel the blow before it even hit me. His fists were so hard, like rocks, leaving my body bashed and bruised long after he had stopped. And I knew he could kill me, any time he felt like it. Snap my brittle neck like a mere twig. I knew he could, and I knew he would, and that's what scared me. But long after he had left me, I would be lying in the darkness shaking even though my breath had returned to normal, and thoughts would creep into my head. Thoughts more terrible then death. Thoughts that scared me with their reality. Fore, I had realized, that we were just the same. Him and me, me and that monster, I was the same as the monster, and that made me the monster.

What is family? What is love? The only love from the only family that I know are the blows carved into my flesh each day and every night. 'How could her own father do that to her?' I hear people whisper behind my back. Yet, no one has ever stepped forward to help me. Because they are afraid for their own lives. That is the way human beings are. All that matters is life, and only their own.


	5. Walking After You

Author's note: First of all, you're probably as surprised as I am to see this chapter. I mean, wow, I thought this story was dead. Actually, I was definitely sure that this story was dead. But… it's somehow managed to rise itself back to life and this is what's its come up with. Welcome to chapter five.

Oh yeah. I finally gave my chapters names. Yay . I used the titles of songs that inspired me during the writing of that particular chapter. Chapter One is About A Girl by Nirvana. Chapter Two is We're In This Together by Nine Inch Nails. Chapter Three is Right On Time by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Chapter Four is I'm A Monster by Ours, and last but not least is Chapter Five Walking After You, which is by the Foo Fighters. Alright, now that you're updated on the chapter titles, please continue .

Disclaimer: As you all hopefully know, I don't own any of the FY stuff, yada, yada, yada. You know the drill.

Storytelling

Chapter 5: Walking After You

I was starting to get anxious about getting home. How long had it been since I had left? Two days? Three? Time was flying by so quickly it was hard to comprehend. I knew that the time in the real world ran slower than the time in the book world, so I wondered how long it had been since I had left in the real world. Did my parents even know I was gone yet?

I was still in the cold room, smashed against the wall, huddled in blankets, wishing I could disappear. Cassian hadn't come back yet. I have no idea how long I had been lying there. I had no idea what to do.

Cassian had killed me. Wow, I had not seen that coming. He hadn't meant to, of course. He had just snapped. Like a little bell inside his head clicked and the next thing he knew, his hands were around my neck. Just like that. All he could think of was making me stop. Making me stop. That's all he had to do. Make me stop.

And that's exactly what he did, just, not the way he had planned. He had shut my mouth, that's for sure. But he had always shut everything else about me off. He had killed me and I could no longer open my eyes.

I guess in a way that it was my fault. No, I know it was my fault. But how was I supposed to know that he would snap like that? How could I have known that deep down inside, he was even capable of that? But now I knew. Only problem was, it was a little too late.

Okay, so Cassian hadn't really killed me.

It felt like he had, though. Or maybe it was just my guilt that made me feel so terrible. I was pretty sure I had just crushed any chance of friendship with him, even though that had seemed unlikely in the first place.

Finally I pulled myself up and fumbled over to the door, still wrapped tightly in my blanket. I creaked the door open an inch and peered outside. I blinked my eyes heavily. Small white flakes were drifting down from the sky, riding gently on the wind. It was… snowing?

I pushed the door open even father and stared out at the night sky. It was filled with thousands upon thousands of the white specks, twisting and whirling and falling to the earth. I was spellbound. I had always loved the snow. Winter was my favorite season. With it every year came a sort of sweet dejavu, as the holidays began rolling in, one after the other.

The undeniable cold that came with the first snow suddenly started to push at me, and I felt my fingers and toes beginning to numb. I was about the pull back into the room when something caught my eye.

I knew it had to be Cassian. He was slumped on the floor a few feet down from the door, back against the wall, just staring out at the sky. I felt myself freeze even more than I already was. What was I supposed to do? I could feel my eyes watering up just at the pit in my stomach.

I moved out of the room and he seemed to catch notice of me for the first time. My socked feet padded lightly against the wood, the blanket dragging against my heels. I stopped when I was about a foot short of him. He had gone back to gazing at the snow and was apparently choosing to ignore my presence. I leaned against the wall and let myself slid down the ground, my gaze flickering over at him.

We sat there in silence for a few moments, inches away from each other, staring at the black sky specked with snowflakes. I knew I had to talk to him. I just didn't know what I had to say. Should I apologize? What would I be apologizing for? For bringing up his mother? For causing him pain? I couldn't just say nothing at all. The air needed to be filled with something other than sound.

"Cassian." I said, and stopped, not really having a plan as to what to say next. I was kind of hoping he would fill in the void for me, but in another way I was dreading to hear what he had to say.

"Don't you dare say sorry," Cassian said, face still turned to the snow. "Don't apologize, and don't pity me. I don't want it."

"But… I need to say _something_," I almost whispered.

"Why?" He turned to me abruptly for a second, before whipping his gaze back to the sky.

"I… I don't know," I admitted. "I just… don't want you to hate me even more than you already do."

He glanced at me.

"I-I mean," I started quickly. 'I… don't really know what I mean. I guess… I just don't want you to be mad at me."

"I'm not."

My gaze shot up at him. "W-What?"

"I said I'm not mad at you, what, do you need new ears or something?"

I laughed. Then my hand flew up to my mouth. Was I supposed to have laughed? Was this a serious situation?

"Che, that's your problem," Cassian said. I lowered my hand curiously. "You shouldn't be ashamed to laugh like that. What, you think I'd get mad at you?"

"I…"

"Just do whatever seems right. You shouldn't let other people's opinions shape you so much. One day you'll look in the mirror and you won't even see yourself."

I bit my lip as I felt it turning into a smile. He glanced at me. "See? Just smile already dammit! Why do you always hold back?"

My face split into a grin. I don't know why. Why was I so happy? Was it the snow? Was it what Cassian had said? Was I just relieved that he wasn't mad at me?

Whatever it was… it felt good.

Shortly after that, we both had to scurry inside before we froze our asses off, but I still felt happy.

It was snowing again the next morning. Thin coats of snow layered the frozen yards of grass and sloshed against the muddy street corners. And the snow kept falling in large flurries.

I was still burning to ask Cassian about his mother, but from what had happened the night before I was still quite wary about the subject. The problem was now I was even more curious than I had been before.

I didn't have much time to think about it though, as Chichiri showed up at our doorstep bright and early, dragging along behind him none other than Tasuki. Before I could blink he had grabbed me around the shoulders.

"Ah ha, ha, ha! I found you! Thank the gods! Tama woulda killed me if I had lost their kid!!"

After that we started out once more, and once again on our way to the palace. After the last little charade we had been thrown quite off course but that didn't seem to discourage Tasuki on bit. And the fact that Chichiri had joined us made him even more the merrier.

"It feels just like old times, the two of us romping around the countryside," Tasuki exclaimed to Chichiri. "And with Tsubaki here it's like having Miaka _and _Tamahome, just merged into one!"

Cassian rolled his eyes.

We had rented three more horses from the village before we had set out; two to replaces the ones that had been stolen by the gypsies and one for Chichiri.

I was becoming somewhat more accustomed to riding but I still had to twist around in my seat every few minutes to keep from getting numb. I was riding behind Tasuki, only half listening to his long rants. I had started to think again, and for the first time I really began to wonder about the relationship between Tasuki and Cassian's mother. I mean, they had been husband and wife, right? How had they met? What had happened? How could Cassian's mother have tried to _kill_ him?

I watched Tasuki's back, wondering if I could catch any trace of pain in his jovial voice.

What had happened back then??


End file.
